Understanding of surface chemistry of III–V metalorganic chemical vapor deposition reactants

Abstract

Beside molecular-beam epitaxy, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and metalorganic MBE (MOMBE) have developed into promising deposition techniques for the epitaxial growth of III–V semiconductor layer structures. In the latter two methods the layers are grown from gaseous starting materials, usually metal alkyls such as Ga(CH3)3, Ga(C2H5)3, etc., and hydrids such as AsH3, PH3, etc. The growth process on the wafer surface is determined by complex surface reactions, e.g., decomposition of the metalorganic, addition of hydrogen to an alkyl radical, etc. In the present paper results from growth studies in the MOMBE system as well as results from surface spectroscopic investigations on the adsorption behavior of MOCVD reactants are discussed with respect to a deeper understanding of the surface chemistry involved in MOMBE and MOCVD.